PARIS — The French Socialist Party dashed hopes they would refrain from bringing down the country’s minority government and now proposes replacing Prime Minister François Bayrou with a center-left premier.

After meeting with Bayrou on Thursday, the head of the Socialists, Olivier Faure, told reporters his party would not “change its mind” after deciding to topple the government during Monday’s confidence vote over a proposal to slash the 2026 budget by €43.8 billion. The prime minister said his aggressive spending plans are necessary to stave off a Greek-like debt crisis.

Faure called on French President Emmanuel Macron to “choose a prime minister from the moderate left that wants to govern.”

However, Faure set a steep price for his party’s cooperation. He said that a center-left PM would have to implement the Socialist budget proposal — including tax hikes and renegotiating Macron’s controversial decision to raise the retirement age two years ago.

“Our proposals are balanced, we want to reduce debt and we are going to find money among France’s richest. And we won’t penalize companies,” Faure said.

The Socialist Party’s own proposal for 2026 includes a squeeze of €22 billion, which Finance Minister Éric Lombard — who has ties to the center-left — said was insufficient in an interview with the Financial Times.

While Faure said his party agrees that the “level of public debt has become unbearable,” the Socialists believe new levies must be applied to “those who have profited” from Macron’s fiscal policies in the past eight years.

But increasing taxes has long been a red line for Macron and the conservatives who back the current minority government. Macron is also unlikely to name a prime minister who would make significant alterations to the pension reform, so the center-left party’s moves this week may just be political posturing.

“Faure himself thinks it [a Socialist PM] would never happen,” said a close ally of the Socialist leader who was granted anonymity to discuss the sensitive topic.

Still, the prospect of Macron nominating a center-left prime minister to replace Bayrou has gained traction in recent days.

On Tuesday, the French president instructed heads of the coalition backing his government to “work with the Socialists,” although conservative leader Bruno Retailleau reportedly told Macron his party would not remain in a coalition with the Socialists.

Yet on Thursday, the conservative leader in the National Assembly, Laurent Wauquiez, indicated his party would not immediately bring down a Socialist government.

“We do not belong to those who topple governments in this country for the sake of it … because I think that instability is catastrophic for the country,” Wauquiez said on BFMTV.

Later Thursday, Retailleau, who is also the interior minister, said his party would not hand a “blank check” to a possible future left-leaning government.

“If a Socialist government implemented policies that were against France’s interests, the duty of the right would be to stop it,” he wrote on X.

The Socialists may instead end up settling for a deal that would make them kingmakers of a new center-right government, according to a different Socialist party official who was also granted anonymity to discuss internal deliberations.

The party would, in theory, agree to refrain from toppling the government if there was “a change of political direction” that has yet to be negotiated, the official said.

Elisa Bertholomey contributed to this report.